


On Equal Footing

by Yulicia



Category: Final Fantasy XIV
Genre: F/F, Female Warrior of Light (Final Fantasy XIV), Final Fantasy XIV: Stormblood, Midlander Warrior of Light, Unnamed Warrior of Light - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-05
Updated: 2020-11-05
Packaged: 2021-03-09 03:42:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,053
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27408259
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Yulicia/pseuds/Yulicia
Summary: On the eve of war, on the cusp of victory - of freedom, Lyse and the Warrior of Light share a duel, bearing both their blades and their hearts.
Relationships: Lyse Hext/Warrior of Light
Kudos: 9





	On Equal Footing

As the sun began to set on Rhaelgr’s Reach and the heat of the day began to cool, the reality of what they were to do beyond this horizon hit Lyse. Beyond this clear and starry night lay the taste of freedom, scented with iron and rich blood. No war was ever won without sacrifice, and this something Lyse had come to know first hand. 

She wasn’t sure that Conrad should have entrusted her with his leadership, with the heavy mantle he once carried as though it weighed nothing at all. She didn’t quite think that she was ready for such a thing but, then again, she doubted that she ever would. 

It had been a strange homecoming. Lyse knew the Ala Mhigo that Yda and her Father had talked fondly about was long gone, grinded into dust beneath the heels of tyrants and conquerors decades ago, but she hoped, distantly that the new Ala Mhigo that lay beyond today would be if not the same as that old, proud country, but mayhaps even better. 

But these were hopes for tomorrow, and for the future. The hope for today was to fight, and to win. A fight, Lyse knew, would be best fought with the Warrior of Light beside her. 

The woman who had become a weapon, and one who Lyse had come to call a dear friend, was now the one who stared her down from across their dueling ground. As they stood atop the hand of the great stature Lyse was not filled with fear of failure or fear of falling, but instead with excitement. 

The Warrior of Light grinned, and unsheathed her sword. Lyse was grateful she had not thought to bring her staff. Black magic did not tend to be within the best practice for a friendly duel. Though she had thankfully not brought her all to bear there was still a fire alight in her pale, almost white, blue eyes, simmering just below the surface. 

“Ready?” Lyse called, her voice easily carried across the wind.

“Always am,” The Warrior of Light replied, her voice awash with cocky confidence. 

Lyse lunged at her, and the Warrior of Light rose to meet her. As they clashed their weapons made a deafening clang as the steel repelled one another. The Warrior of Light fell back, cleverly stepping backwards to seek a new opening.

Lyse, unfilling to let such an opening occur, struck at her flank, kicking into her blind spot. The Warrior of Light dodged her thrust, and then made an attack of her own, which Lyse then carefully parried. 

Though the Midlander was barely taller than Lyse, she was physically much stronger, and Lyse knew that she would have to use her speed to compete against her. 

“You’re better at this than I remember,” The Warrior of Light said. “Stronger, too.”

“As are you,” Lyse replied. 

The Warrior of Light kicked out a foot, trying to trip Lyse. She almost succeeded, but instead of hitting the ground with a thud Lyse rebalanced herself so that she hit the ground with her hands, rolling her body into her next attack.

They clashed once more and the Warrior of Light easily parried her, stepping back into a defensive position. Lyse threw a punch, which was dodged, and then the Warrior of Light thrust with her sword, which was then repelled with the side of Lyse’s blade. 

Lyse felt more alive that she had in years. She felt tested, but did not fear for her life. She felt confident, and strong, and realised that she had always felt this way around the Warrior of Light. 

“Clever,” The Warrior of Light commented. “My mistake for thinking you could be distracted for even a moment.” 

“You’ll have to do better than that if you want me to be distracted!” Lyse replied, filled with a glee and her voice a little breathless. Her heart was pounding in her ears. 

The Warrior of Light thrust forward, and Lyse stepped back. She, however, miscalculated her step and quickly felt herself falling back, her foot missing the incline that made the hand’s palm. She fell against the stone with a hard crash, pain shooting through the back of her thighs.

“Ow!” Lyse exclaimed. 

The Warrior of Light’s eyes grew wide as she lowered her sword. She was by her side in an instant, standing over her with worry. “Twelve, are you alright?”

Lyse felt a flutter of mischief run through her breast. She kicked a leg out to sweep it under the Warrior of Light’s feet. It had exactly the desired effect and the Warrior of Light came crashing down into the ground beside her with a yelp. 

“Oh, so unfair!” The Warrior of Light laughed, laying back against the stone. Lyse can see her chest rising and falling with each giggling breath she took. “Though I suppose injuring yourself was quite a good distraction. I concede.”

“Done so easily?” Lyse teased. “I thought the vaunted Warrior of Light had better stamina than that.”

“Trust me, I can go for quite some time,” the Warrior of Light said, and her suggestive tone did not go unnoticed. It made Lyse feel a bit warm, heat creeping up to her cheeks. 

The Warrior of Light groaned, squirming a bit. “Gods, you really got me,” she complained. “That’ll bruise tomorrow.” The Warrior of Light paused. “But somehow I don’t think a tiny bruise will matter at all come the battle. Lyse,” she started. She worried at her lip. “May I ask you something?”

“Of course. Anything,” Lyse replied, her answer so quick she barely had to think. 

“Do you… do you really think we’ll win? Tomorrow, I mean. Do you think we can do it?”

Though she asked the same question that was upon everyone’s mind it was nevertheless strange to see the Warrior of Light doubt, but Lyse supposed everyone was entitled to lapses in confidence, eikon-slayers included. 

“Of course!” Lyse said, filled to the brim with the confidence the Warrior of Light currently lacked. She practically radiated it. “With you by our side I dare say it would be barely a fight at all. Well, maybe not that far, but you’ve faced worse and conquered it, haven’t you?”

It was terribly easy to believe in the Warrior of Light. 

The Warrior of Light smiled at her, the light from it creasing the skin by her eyes. “Perhaps you believe in me too much, but I scarce say I would be as strong if you did not.” 

Lyse didn’t think her belief was misguided at all. “Keep winning and I’ll keep believing in you, alright?” 

“I can do that,” The Warrior of Light replied. She heard the Warrior of Light sigh beside her. “It’s nice up here. I can see why you picked it.”

With the sun setting above them Lyse could see what she meant. The blanket of night was just beginning to creep above Ala Mhigo, darkening the once bright blue skies. Lyse had always loved the night sky, and with the stars above them belonging to her birthplace she felt somehow more serene beneath their light than in anywhere else in Eorzea. 

With the sudden calm Lyse felt a bit shy, having been reminded that this duel was her idea. “Um… thank you for this. For coming up here to spar, I mean. It means a lot, you know, when you go along with stuff like this.”

“My pleasure. I wouldn’t trade this view for the world,” The Warrior of Light said. Her voice was steady, awash with a calm Lyse hadn’t heard from her in some time. 

Gazing up into the clouds Lyse replied, “Neither would I.”

However, while Lyse was looking to the sky, the Warrior of Light’s gaze was planted firmly upon the woman next to her. Lyse, who did not look, did not see the fondness captured in the Warrior of Light’s gaze, but that did not mean that it was not there.

As Lyse’s heartbeat slowed from the rapid pace set during their duel she found herself truly at peace up here, beneath her sky and beside her inspiration. She smiled to herself, unable to contain that little uncontrollable spark of joy growing in her chest. 

“I like it when you smile,” the Warrior of Light said. “It suits you far better than a frown.”

Lyse turned to look at her and captured the softness in her gaze. She felt… worshipped in a way she was unfamiliar with. It was not the hope that others looked to her with, but something closer to adoration. Though, she wondered if she was simply imagining such things. 

“I could say just the same of you,” Lyse replied easily. 

The corners of the Warrior of Light’s lips flicked upwards. “Then why don’t you?” 

Lyse rolled her eyes. “Oh, alright then. I think you have a pretty smile, O’ Warrior of Light.”

The Warrior of Light’s eyes widened a fraction, her cheeks growing red. “I don’t believe that was what I said.”

“But is that not what you meant?” Lyse prompted. She felt her heart begin to race again, just as it had done during their fight. 

“It was,” The Warrior of Light said quietly, pale eyes towards the ground. “Am I to gather, then, that I am not alone in feeling this way?”

“You have never been alone.”

The Warrior of Light looked at her with a measure of shock. 

“And you never will be, for as long as I’m around. Now that I’m here, as Lyse, as  _ me _ , you’re not getting rid of me that easily,” Lyse jokes. She hopes it covers the thundering of her heartbeat.

The Warrior of Light shifts closer, and moves her arm beside her. Lyse feels the Warrior of Light lace her fingers between hers. Their joined hands were brought to the Warrior of Light’s lips and she felt a kiss pressed to the back of her hand. 

She realises she would have much preferred those lips to have been pressed against her own. 

Lyse, with an eagerness to shock even herself, drapes herself across the Warrior of Light, sitting upon her waist. It is only once she is there that she realises what she has done. 

“Gods, this is a bit more compromising than I planned it to be,” Lyse mumbles to herself. “Is this alright, though?” 

The Warrior of Light, lost momentarily for words, simply nodded, her lips parted in shock. 

It strikes Lyse how pretty the Warrior of Light is like this; vulnerable, human, with her long orange hair fanned around her head, messy and tangled from the duel, and with a light flush upon her skin. This bastion of hope living within a Midlander’s skin seemed content upon Lyse’s control, and it was rather thrilling. 

“Good,” Lyse said, relief rushing through her. She wasn’t exactly… experienced with acting out the impulses that lay beneath her chest when she gazed upon the Warrior of Light, so she was at least glad that it seemed to be going well. 

Before she could grow too shy she pressed her hands to the stone beside the Warrior of Light’s head, covering her in her shadow. She leaned down and pressed a tentative kiss to the side of the Warrior of Light’s mouth, and felt herself melt when not only did the Warrior of Light move her head to chase after her lips, she pressed a hand to her cheek. 

Lyse has never thought she was a very good kisser, but in this instance she didn’t think she had to be. This was not something that was perfect. They were imperfect people in imperfect places in imperfect situations, and she found solace in the warm of the woman below her. She realises she always has. 

She kissed her, and the Warrior of Light kissed her back, and she felt her entire world shrink to the pair of them, in this very moment. She knew daybreak would come tomorrow morning, and with her heart soaring so high she felt ready to take on the world. 

Lyse wanted nothing more than to bury herself in this feeling. 

And if they stayed there, upon that stone hand, until the moon began to glow then, well, no one but the monks of old had to know.

  
  



End file.
